Stats SA report: Almost 20 percent of SA men are bed hoppers

AS THE #MenAreTrash keeps trending on social media and leaves the country divided, Stats SA has released a report indicating that at least 17% of men have more than one partner.

Statistician General Pali Lehohla this week gave the department of health the demographic health survey.

The survey which was last done in 1998 indicated that men continue to have more affairs than women even
though they use protection.
“17 percent of men have had more than one partner in the past 12 months and 65 percent of them used a condom.
“While only 5 percent of women had more than one partner and only 58 percent of them used a condom,” said Lehohla.

Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the trend was worrying and bed-hopping continues to be a problem that increases the chances of contracting HIV/AIDS.

“Look we have different strategies that we have implemented as government to deal with the issue of HIV/Aids and it’s made even worse by the fact that people continue to have multiple partners,” said Motsoaledi.

The health minister conceded that government needed to change strategies in order to raise awareness around the issue of HIV/AIDS.

“The most vulnerable group is girls that are in between the ages of 15 and 24 and we have been trying to find different means of awareness in order to alert them that they are in danger of being infected with HIV/Aids,” said Motsoaledi.

The minister said government has 27 districts in the country that contribute to 80% of the HIV/AIDS infections in the country.
Lehohla also used the occasion to once again debunk the myth that government’s social grants play a role in the increase of teenage pregnancy.

STEPPING UP THE FIGHT: Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi

He said no evidence could be found by the government’s statistics engine to link the soaring numbers of teenagers falling pregnant with social grants that are given for children.
“There is no truth to those allegations, we could not find any evidence that could show that teenagers fall pregnant because they want to get the money from government for grants,” said Lehohla.

Motsoaledi said the department was relieved that the stigma around teenage pregnancy in the country could be cleared.

“We have always maintained that teenage pregnancy has nothing to do with grants, actually most of the teenagers that fall pregnant only register for grants two years after the child is born. It’s just that people don’t want to consider the facts in front of them,” said Motsoaledi.

Motsoaledi said South Africa was the only country in the continent that provides social grants but the issue persists throughout the continent.

“We are not alone, actually in some African countries the situation is much worse and they don’t have the social grants. “Our people need to understand that the issue of child grants is a societal issue and we have to address
it collectively,” added Motsoaledi.

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